Paintings by Olaf Sigurdsson

Olaf Sigurdsson is an Expressionistic artist, born 1950 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Largely Self Taught Olaf began drawing and painting early in his childhood, as Olaf remembers “It was the only thing I was good at in school.” Throughout his childhood, Olaf developed an appreciation for his majestic surroundings, viking folklore, music, and the natural wildlife. In 1976 Olaf moved to New York City with his wife Margaret. They relocated to Dallas Texas where in 1980 Olaf took some art classes and workshops at Westwood College. After starting a family in Dallas, they relocated to Pennsylvania in 1985. During the late 1990’s Olaf befriended the Late artist Robert Rasley where Olaf learned the suggestion of 3/4″ birchwood. Olaf has developed years of artistic expression showcasing his abilities in multiple mediums; Oils, Watercolor, Acrylic, Sculpting, and even wood carving.

Olaf is a professional artist full-time. He lives in Waymart with his wife Margaret.

Artist of the month

Norman Soo is a multimedia artist born in Hong Kong in the late 60’s . He was involved in sculptures and model mock-up . In the late 80’s he spent five years in the College of art, Ontario, Canada. He relocated back in Canada in the 90’s, and works as a portrait artist ever since. In 2012 he started practicing the fundamentals again to prepare for the skills needed for digital works....read more

Viking Art

The specific design elements from the Viking art (Norse art) had influenced many cultures and traditions, but become more popular in the early 20th century after the archeological discovery of the ornate wood-carvings from the Oserberg ship-burial. Known mostly as invaders and warriors, the Vikings were practical people and their traditional art is described more as symbolic and functional rather than expressive. The everyday objects like tools, drinking horns, body armour and weapons, such as axe heads for example, are decorated with the traditional ornamentation of Scandinavia. Due to the Viking’s invasion, those portable artworks, originally coming from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland expanded their influence in Continental Europe, North America, Scotland, England and Russia. Most commonly used materials are metal, stone, wood, ivory, jet and amber.

Unfortunately many examples of the Viking art are buried with the ships, which were accepted to be a symbol of death and warrior’s journey to the spiritual world. The impact of the pagan religion on Viking art is huge and determines the stylistics through the centuries. The traditional elements include snakes, serpents, beasts, animal heads and plants in the specific for the Vikings patterns, carved into the materials, and often formed by dots, asymmetrical scrolls, pretzel shaped shapes and ornamental lines.